Guide to German American Experience in Missouri

Newspapers

The German language press played an important role in Missouri’s German American communities. The German newspapers in Missouri’s cities and towns helped Missouri German Americans maintain their cultural and linguistic identity. The papers reported on issues of local and national interest, as well as providing opportunities for German American businesses to advertise to their constituents.

German language newspapers from seventeen towns or cities are represented in the State Historical Society’s newspaper collection. One of the state's early German–language newspapers, the Licht–Freund, a philosophical journal advocating the abolition of slavery, began publication in Hermann in 1840. The State Historical Society of Missouri has digitized its holdings of this paper dating from August 23, 1842, through May 21, 1845.

Several of the German–language newspapers were religious in nature, with Lutheran and Catholic publications predominating. Der Lutheraner began publication on September 1, 1844; the Herald Des Glaubens, a Catholic paper is available as early as October 16, 1889. Both papers were published in St. Louis. Other German–language newspapers were published in Boonville, Brinktown, Clayton, Higginsville, Jackson, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Lexington, Marthasville, St. Charles, Ste. Genevieve, St. Joseph, Sedalia, Vienna and Washington.